gateway March 9th, 2012
Election Special
Volume 102
THE
TH E O F F IC IA L STUDE NT NE WS PA P E R AT TH E UN I V ER S I T Y OF A LBERTA
Full SU Election results inside!
Yamagotchya! Current VPSL Colten Yamagishi wins the SU Presidency
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gateway Four new VPs, one incumbent elected
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Friday, March 9, 2012 Volume 102 — Election Special Published since November 21, 1910 Circulation 4,000 ISSN 0845-356X Suite 3-04 Students’ Union Building University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2J7 Telephone 780.492.5168 Fax 780.492.6665 Ad Inquiries 780.492.6700 Email gateway@gateway.ualberta.ca
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Gateway News Staff Thursday night saw the election of four fresh faces to the Students’ Union executive, with one incumbent also taking a win. In the Vice-President (External) race, Arts councillor Petros Kusmu won with 2,910 votes out of 5,589 cast in the second round, or 52 per cent of the vote. Kusmu’s victory came after some uncertainty earlier that day. The Discipline, Interpretation and Enforcement Board, the SU’s judiciary body, was deliberating on a ruling that had Kusmu facing possible disqualification. The ruling was made after one of Kusmu’s volunteers made an announcement during a class that some argued was malicious, which could have led to disqualification. However, the DIE Board ruled that the comment was not malicious, although inappropriate, and fined Kusmu’s campaign $47 because the announcement was made during a class. Kusmu said some of his proudest moments was engaging students rarely involved in campus life. “From freestyle raps, to conversations on how hard it is to be a fine arts student, I’ve had some amazing conversations,” he said. “But I also must say, my competition, Dorothy (Roberts) and Adam (Woods), were remarkable. And there have been some road bumps and some apologies on my behalf, but they’ve been remarkable competition.” Among Kusmu’s first tasks will be to represent the SU during the next provincial election, expected to be called in April. The incumbent, Andy Cheema, was able to eke out the closest victory of the night in the four-person race for Vice-President (Operations and Finance). Cheema won with 2,694 first place votes out of 5,050 cast in the fourth
comeback kid Petros Kusmu was all smiles after hearing of his VP (External) win. round, or 53 per cent of the vote. Second-place finisher Mike McGinn was close behind with 2,356 votes in the fourth round, or 47 per cent. Cheema was relieved to get the victory in what turned out to be an incredibly tight race. “I’m incredibly happy. I must say, I was really impressed by the competition throughout the entire campaign,” Cheema said. “Even if you didn’t (vote for me), I won’t let you down this year,” he added. Cheema is looking forward to hitting the ground running once he gets back in office. As he stated throughout his campaign, unlike his fellow new executives, he will understand the requirements of the job from his first day back in office thanks to the full year he’s already spent in the position. Dustin Chelen came out on top for the VicePresident (Academic) race, taking 2,884 votes out of 4,919 cast in the fourth round, or 59 per cent first place votes. Chelen was grateful for the work his
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volunteers put into his campaign, and said he is looking forward to beginning work with the newly-elected executive. Chelen is also eager to start work on some of the initiatives he outlined during the election. “The first thing I want to work on is finding a new grading policy for students. I think we can get it done fast.” Saadiq Sumar won the only uncontested race of the election, the Vice-President (Student Life) race with 4,740 votes out of 5,881 cast, or 81 per cent. Sumar said he was excited by the results, and looks forward to sitting on an executive made up of close friends. Brent Kelly emerged as the winner in the Board of Governors race with 2,712 out of 5,045 votes in the second round, or 54 per cent. “It’s amazing. It’s so stressful, but I’ve worked hard and I really believe that my message resonated with voters. I wanted to make a change. I want to see that student interests are being strongly advocated for in the Board of Governors.”
Students vote yes for U-Pass, SUB building fee Ryan Bromsgrove
opinion editor @ryawesome Both referendums passed in this year’s Students’ Union elections, one for a spring and summer U-Pass and the other for a $9 per semester SUB renovation fee. The spring and summer U-Pass passed handily with 83 per cent of the vote, while the SUB renovation fee won a narrower victory of 54 per cent. Students’ Union President Rory Tighe and Vice-President (Academic) Emerson Csorba represented the two initiatives respectively. “I am very excited about the summer UPass. I just wasn’t sure if it was going to pull through, so I’m stoked to see it,” Tighe said. The new U-Pass program won’t come into effect until the spring and summer semesters of 2012-13, and will provide the same service
as the current fall and winter passes. The pass will cover the May-August period, and bear the same $116.17 cost as each of the current UPasses, with the same limited opt-out terms. Students won’t see the SUB renovation fee applied immediately, as Students’ Council must first approve a Design Development Report. It’s a project the SU has been working on for some time, having already gauged support with a survey and through the completion of a feasibility summary. “I think it’s great that it passed, and I think it’s a really good project for students. They saw the benefit in it,” Tighe said. “I think what we’re going to see out of this is a lot of consultation in terms of making sure the project accomplishes all the goals that we promised it would.” Those needs that the project seeks to fulfill include improving student services and clubs
streeters election night
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Aden Murphy EXTERNAL 4 life
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“The proper hack answer is buying one can too many of green paint.”
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space, as well as increasing study and relaxation space. Csorba was unavailable for comment, but Tighe noted that the SU must be careful how it proceeds with the project, given the narrow win. “It was a close election, so that means that we really have to make sure that we’re doing the project in a way that meets all the needs that students have,” he said. Students won’t be able to alter or remove the fee until any debt incurred by the renovations is repaid. Those registered in off-campus or Augustana courses will not be assessed the fee. Neither referendum question had official representation for a no side. “I’m really happy both referendums passed,” Tighe added. “Spring and summer U-Pass is going to be great for students, the SUB renovations are going to be a pretty fun project, and I think everyone will enjoy it.”
As you may have heard, the VP (External) race was under consideration by the DIE Board and Petros Kusmu was almost disqualified. WE ASKED...
If you could be disqualified for anything in an election, what would you do? Michael Ross election mastermind “Probably defacing people’s posters with Sharpies and moustaches.”
The Gateway periodically adjusts its circulation between 7,000 to 10,000 printed copies based on market fluctuations and other determining factors.
colophon The Gateway is created using Macintosh computers and HP Scanjet flatbed scanners. Adobe InDesign is used for layout. Adobe Illustrator is used for vector images, while Adobe Photoshop is used for raster images. Adobe Acrobat is used to create PDF files which are burned directly to plates to be mounted on the printing press. Text is set in a variety of sizes, styles, and weights of Fairplex, Utopia, Proxima Nova Extra Condensed, and Tisa. The Manitoban is The Gateway’s sister paper, and we love her dearly, though “not in that way.” The Gateway’s games of choice are Election Dissection.
contributors Kate Black, Andrew Jeffrey, Scott Fenwick, Katelyn Hoffart, AmirAli Sharifi
Bev Eastham she’s still here “Probably buy all of campus a round of drinks. [Let’s start that now.] If I had unlimited money, I’d be down for that.”
Simon Yackulic Gateway hack “Streaking after doing a keg stand. [Is that against the rules?] It should not be.”
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Volume 102, Election Special
Yamagishi new SU president Current VP (SL) credits his win to hard work and talking to new students April Hudson
staff reporter @april_hudson The man behind this year’s recordbreaking dodgeball game and other campus events will be next year’s Students’ Union President, beating out two contestants in a race that closed on Thursday evening. It took current Vice-President (Student Life) Colten Yamagishi four rounds to secure his position as President-elect for next year’s group of Students’ Union executives in one of the tightest races of the election. In the fourth round, Yamagishi received 3,464 first place votes, or 63 per cent. “I feel exhausted, but I’m absolutely ecstatic and I’m really excited to lead this organization next year,” Yamagishi said immediately after his victory was announced. “We have a great team of executives, a great bunch of people, and I think we’ve got a lot coming for students this year.” Despite being a popular figure on campus due to his role as VP (Student Life), Yamagishi said he thinks he won because of hard work. “I worked as hard as I possibly could to make sure to get the word out on voting, and talked to as many new students as possible,” Yamagishi said. “Maybe it was a sign — I didn’t use a sheep (as my mascot) this year. I’ll use that as an excuse.” When asked what he plans to do in his first 100 days in office, Yamagishi said that it would take days just to explain his plans. “The first thing I’m definitely going to do though is take a nap,” Yamagishi joked. “I’m probably going to go into work tomorrow, actually, as VP (Student Life) — there’s a lot of big issues to deal with and things to take care of, but there’s a lot of renewed energy that’s in me right now, so I’m going to make sure that I finish the year strong.” Runner-up Adi Rao lost out in the fourth round with 1,996 first place votes, or 37 per cent. However, despite counting the election as a loss, Rao said he still feels like he won. “When I started this campaign, I started it knowing it was a win-win for me,” Rao said. “If I won, I got a chance to implement my vision for the Students’ Union. If I lost, I won because we talked about social justice. I won because we talked about the rights of students. I won because we made the point that education is a right, and we will not give
dodgeball king Colten Yamagishi found out about his win Thursday evening. up the fight.” Rao added that elections always have wins and losses, and that this is just one of them. “My message to (Yamagishi) is, congratulations,” Rao said. “And if (he) believes that education is a right, and if (he) believes that it’s time to stand up and fight, then (he) can join me, and I’ll help (him) do (his) job as Students’ Union President.” Third-place candidate Farid Iskandar said he was a little surprised at the results. “I feel like I put in a lot of work,” Iskandar said. “Obviously, I was not the most well-known person on
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campus, but I worked very hard.” Iskandar added that, despite his disappointment, he was happy with the result. “I think (Yamagishi) is wellknown on campus — out of all the executives, he talked to the most students during his time,” Iskandar said. “My advice to him is that the best part about being President is doing external advocacy, and I’m going to work with him a lot to teach him how awesome it is.” Yamagishi is the third President in a row to come up from the VP (Student Life) position, following his predecessors Rory Tighe and Nick Dehod.
by the numbers A roundup of SU election stats
6,313 439 5,874 21.6% 30.9% 6.6% 547 $520.80 $206.90 $401 20 2 10 ∞ 73
Total ballots cast Ballots cast at official polling stations Ballots cast online Total voter turnout Turnout from most active faculty (Faculty of Science) Turnout from least active faculty (Faculty of Medicine) Votes cast during the election’s busiest hour (11 a.m. March 7) Cost of most expensive campaign (Adi Rao) Cost of least expensive campaign (Big Notorious) Total cost of fines levied by the CRO Number of CRO rulings Number of DIE Board rulings during the election Number of days Mike McGinn wore his green shirt (excluding weekends) Number of Doritos bags consumed by the Gateway news team during election season Number of Twitter users following @votewithlolcat
Figures are accurate as of March 8, 2012, and aren’t officially confirmed.
SU ELECTION RESULTs
Colten Yamagishi
Dustin Chelen
Andy Cheema
Petros Kusmu
Saadiq Sumar
Brent Kelly
president
vp (academic)
vp (ops-fi)
vp (external)
vp (student life)
board of governors rep
victory in fourth round 3,464 votes received out of 5,460 votes cast (63%)
victory in fourth round 2,884 votes received out of 4,919 votes cast (59%)
victory in fourth round 2,694 votes received out of 5,050 votes cast (53%)
victory in second round 2,910 votes received out of 5,589 votes cast (52%)
victory in first round 4,740 votes received out of 5,881 votes cast (81%)
victory in second round 2,712 votes received out of 5,045 votes cast (54%)
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